Mike Royko never said, “Some things you wonder, some things you think, and some things you just know”. He might have said some of the unprintable things I said while watching the game, though. Probably while watching Cubs games.

I’ve never seen two teams work harder to give each other the game. Final score notwithstanding, North Carolina is not a good football team and was only in the game because of Notre Dame (read: Everett Golson) miscues. But the way Notre Dame played this game, I’d be lying if I said they deserved to win either.

But let me preemptively say something to everyone who frequents our NDN boards — the answer to “We won, isn’t that enough?” is always “No.” How you win is as important as whether or not you win, because it shows how likely you are to win more. And a team averaging 3+ turnovers a game like the Irish have the last three weeks is going to have a really hard time winning in Tallahassee.

Some pundits thought before the game Notre Dame would score 50 points against North Carolina. I bet if you’d asked those pundits whether or not ND would need those 50 points, their opinions probably would have been different.

I’m amazed there were only 20 total penalties called in the game. It felt like 50. The yardage must have been in dog years.

Every time I’m ready to declare this a lost year for the offensive line, things like the second quarter and the offensive final drive happen. Be that as it may, as good as the recruiting has been, the performance this season has been inconsistent at best and awful at worst, and no amount of shuffles seem to be doing the trick.

When an extra point is blocked, people who have the “weird” numbers in squares pools get a lot more interested in the game.

Cody Riggs being helped off the field 24 hours after Keivarae Russell’s official dismissal for the season didn’t do my cardiac rhythms any favors. But while we’re on the subject, Russell’s response to his suspension reminds me why I love Notre Dame football.  That’s the kind of thing that gets you the loyalty of the fanbase.

I’m going to stop talking about Golson’s Heisman candidacy for this year now. I do find myself wondering if I’ll be talking about one for Will Fuller someday, though.

Special teams seemed to have their heads in the clouds as well. I haven’t been watching closely so far, but ND’s punt blocking was terrible in this game. Riggs was catching the ball surrounded by while jerseys. I’m going to watch it better in the coming weeks to see if this is something I’m just coming across or it was unique to this game. Meanwhile, the number of brain farts on kickoff returns had me throwing pillows across the room.

I’ll cop to the defense being saddled with short fields off turnovers. But that doesn’t mean they played well otherwise. Expecting Brian Van Gorder’s boys to turn in 12 straight outstanding performances was unrealistic on my part, and right now, I’m thinking it’s better to happen this week than next. I have to wonder, though, how much film was watched. Did they not know UNC was going to go up-tempo? There’s no way a straight-up plan was going to get them a win. Where was the linebacker spying on Marquise Williams?

That someone like David Robinson is even peripherally involved with Notre Dame is a fantastic thing.

Third and two in a keep-the-ball scenario, empty backfield, pass batted down. Regardless of the number of passing yards today, that’s why I will never like this offense, and why I feel ND will always have an uphill battle winning a National Championship with it. You can’t have consistent success with the pressure squarely on one guy, especially when that position turns over every two to three years at best.

But even in the darkest cloud, light shines through. In addition to Fuller, Tarean Folston has balls of cast iron.

Next week tells the tale. Big-boy-pants time.